1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a portable arrangement for ensuring privacy during use of a public toilet. The arrangement includes a screen in the form of a generally rectangular or square piece of sheet material with an embedded suction cup or other attachment means at each corner. Secured to the screen is a smaller pouch into which the screen can be folded and secured by a zipper for transport.
The sheet material is dimensioned to extend across the width of the door of a public restroom stall, to cover a substantial part of the vertical gaps, openings, or slots formed between walls of the stall and vertical edges on each side of the door, and to be held in position by adhesion of the suction cups to the walls of the stall, so as to ensure that the occupant of the stall cannot be viewed through the vertical openings by a person standing outside the stall.
2. Description of Related Art
The privacy arrangement of the invention is especially suitable for use by any individual who desires greater privacy than is provided by a typical public restroom stall.
Although individuals may desire additional privacy for a variety of reasons, there is an especially critical need for such additional privacy in the case of individuals who have had abdominal surgery and are required to use a colostomy bag. Use of a colostomy bag entails frontal exposure that can easily be viewed through the gap between the door and walls of the toilet stall, and that can cause the individual to avoid use of public toilets, limiting movement or participation in activities by the individual away from home.
It is known to provide privacy screens for portable bathroom assemblies or urinals of type designed for outdoor activities such as campouts, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,937,452, 6,374,432, and 7,185,375, but the screens entirely surround the bathroom assembly or urinal, and are not suitable for protecting privacy in a conventional fixed bathroom stall.
It is also known to provide portable screen structures that serve as dressing rooms, the screen structure having a door through which an individual enters, and which either entirely surrounds the individual or encloses three sides of the individual, the fourth side being shielded by a structure or vehicle, to provide privacy when changing clothes, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,840,254 and 7,464,983. Such structures are too large to be easily carried during everyday activities, and cannot be used to provide privacy in a public bathroom stall.
Finally, it is also known to provide a personal cover that fold into a pouch, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,637, but the personal cover is in the form of a sleeping bag or poncho, and cannot be used as a privacy screen in a public restroom stall.
Each of the above-described prior art privacy screens is designed to substantially surround a person and/or a bathroom assembly or urinal, and therefore insufficiently portable to carry around during daily activities such as shopping or dining out. Furthermore, none is suitable for ensuring privacy in public bathroom stalls, in which only the gaps between the door and walls of the stall need to be screened.